Be proud of song & dance in films: Roland Emmerich

White House Down is an action film that stars Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx in the lead roles.

Hollywood director Roland Emmerich, who is known for films such as 2012 (2009), The Day After Tomorrow (2004) and Independence Day (1996), feels that Indians should be proud of the use of song and dance in Bollywood.

“Indian films mostly start with a gun fight and a chase sequence, and at the end of it there is song and dance. Indians should be proud of that. Who knows, one of these films goes huge globally and then Hollywood comes up with a slew of such films!” says Emmerich.

The 57-year-old, who recently told an American daily that actor Will Smith will be a “marquee signing” in his Independence Day II but not the lead actor, says he had his reasons for making that choice. “If I sign him (as the lead actor), then the film will become Will Smith-centric. He (Will) is a huge star and I don’t want my film to be based on him. However, If I sign him, it will be for a cameo role.”

The Germany-born filmmaker, who spoke to us following the release of his new action film, White House Down, starring Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx, reveals, “Jamie said that people will always compare him to (US President) Barack Obama. But he was not playing Obama. Jamie knows Obama personally, so he knows the way he talks, walks. He made a special effort to not to do an Obama in the film.”

Emmerich, who shot to global fame after his disaster film, 2012, also reflects back on it. “I am very pleased about the fact that audiences from around the world are recognising me. I started innocently in Hollywood and I got what I wanted. This (2012) was my idea. I didn’t want to make it because I didn’t want to be labelled as someone who makes only disaster films. But then I got the script and I really liked it! So it kinda was my script-writer tricking me into making the film,” he laughs.

AB defends dancing tooActor Amitabh Bachchan finds it disturbing when the “dancing around the trees” culture in Indian films is looked down upon. “The often mentioned ‘dancing around the trees’ comment. Yes ... it does happen, so what? So long as I am not dancing on your head, why not the tree?” the 70-year-old wrote on his blog. In his opinion, those that “dislike it and annihilate its occurrence, must make (an) effort to enact it themselves, purely as an exercise.”